Sunday, October 28, 2012

Today is one of my favorite almost-unknown holidays: Reformation Sunday. On
October 31, 1517, Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses, beginning the Protestant
Reformation. Many churches celebrate this historic event on the last Sunday in
October.

The
church that I grew up in didn’t do much for Reformation Sunday, with one
notable exception. Our organist and choir director Mr. Spicer is very conscious
of all dates that had special significance for the church. He changes the music
for seasons of the liturgical calendar like Advent and Lent and chooses songs to
mark Pentecost, Ascension Sunday and Trinity Sunday. (I imagine some of my
Christian friends are scratching their heads, surprised that such days even
exist.)

When I
was in high school, for Reformation Sunday Mr. Spicer would do two things. One is
that he would have the choir sing an impressive, chant-like rendition of Psalm
46. The other is that we would sing Martin Luther’s most famous hymn, “A Mighty
Fortress Is Our God.”

This
was a powerful experience. I wish I could convey the sense of awe that
accompanied Mr. Spicer’s version of this hymn. He pulled out all the stops (pun
intended). To quote my parents, on verse 3, Mr. Spicer would open up the pipes
on the organ and let the demons out. You could hear the chaos of “this world
with devils filled” and had no choice but to cling to the melody as best you
could. The whole arrangement did a great job of expressing the dangers and
challenges that we face as followers of Christ, but it ended on a triumphant
note that proclaimed our hope in the ultimate victory of God.

Even
apart from the amazing accompaniment, this hymn still gives me great comfort
when I’m feeling afraid or discouraged, especially if I think spiritual warfare
is involved. It’s definitely one of my favorite hymns.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

One of
the downsides of growing up a Christian is that I’m a bit too used to Jesus.
I’ve read all the Gospels before, so I tend to skim over some of the
interesting, profound and downright weird things Jesus says.

I ran
into one of the last of those as I was preparing for a Bible study last week.
Among other passages, we were looking at Luke 21:25-28.

“… And there will be signs in
sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity
because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and
with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens
will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with
power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads,
because your redemption is drawing near.”

Wait. What? Jesus was just talking about all kinds
of horrible things happening. Earlier verses talked about wars, earthquakes,
famines and plagues. Now even the planets and stars are moving out of their
orbits. To me, the logical response to all of this would be to hide. But that’s
not what Jesus says to do.

Well,
He did warn the people in Judea to flee when they saw Jerusalem surrounded. But
that was talking about the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple
in A.D. 70. The second half of the passage is focused more on the Second
Coming, also known as the end of the world.

So to
summarize: when the city of Jerusalem is destroyed, we should run, but when the
whole planet is destroyed, we should, “straighten up and raise [our] heads.” When
we got to this part in my Bible study, the whole class started laughing. I
don’t blame them. This is very counterintuitive. But it has to do with the
bigger picture. When the whole world starts falling apart, it’s a sign that God
is about to put it back together again. And when He does that, the world will
be far better off than it was before.

But
what does this mean for us today? I’ve heard people claim that the Second
Coming is going to happen in the near future, but I’m not convinced. It could,
but I really don’t know. However, I do know that when I watch the news, it
tends to make me depressed. There’s so much death, destruction and corruption
in the world right now. Sometimes it seems like things are really falling
apart.

If the
problems we see in the world are in fact a sign that the end of the world is
near, we can face the future with confidence because Christ will return soon
and make everything right. In fact, the horrible things that are happening are
all a part of God’s plan.

But if
the problems we see are just problems and not at all related to the end times,
we can still face the future with confidence. If God can use even the
destruction of the world for His glory and to bring about something new and
better, how much more can He use the other problems we face, problems that are,
well, not the end of the world. Obviously, as Christians we should do what we
can to bring the world into better alignment with God’s will. But whether we
succeed or not, God, who governs all of history, has a plan that will never
fail.

Monday, October 15, 2012

I’m
pretty much the opposite of what most Americans think of as a racial minority.
I’m a white girl who grew up going to a mostly-white school in suburban Connecticut.

I was
raised on the belief that racial discrimination was wrong, and I acted
accordingly. Of course I saw that people looked different, but I tried to treat
everyone the same, without making assumptions based on what they looked like.
One of my closest friends in high school was Indian (that is, her parents were
from India). I even had crushes on boys from at least four different races.

But as
I tried to ignore racial differences, I also ignored the different experiences
of people of different races. I condemned obvious instances of racism but
missed a lot of the subtle prejudices in the society around me and possibly in
my own heart. The first time I considered that I might be missing something was
when an Asian American friend of mine in college kept mentioning race. He’d
make comments about how he felt in large groups of Asians, compared to how he
felt in large groups of white people. I began to wonder: could the fact that I
grew up as a majority have blinded me? If my race were something that made me different,
would I consider it more important?

That
question was answered for me when I moved to Asia a year ago. Now I am a minority. And I notice it.

Last
year, I had pretty bad culture shock. There were a lot of things involved with
it: the language, different habits, uncertainty about how to act, confusion
about how to get around, sheer exhaustion and so on. But one thing that really
got on my nerves was the sense that people could take one look at me and know I
was foreign. It was like I had a big neon sign saying “wai guo ren” (Chinese
for “foreigner”) hanging above my head.

Most people
weren’t mean about it. Sometimes they were quite friendly and came up to me to
practice their English. Sometimes they complimented me on my Chinese (even if I
didn’t deserve it). But sometimes when I walked into a store, they would hide
or run around looking for an English-speaking coworker. Sometimes they shouted
“HELLO HELLO HELLO” until I acknowledged them. Sometimes small children stared
at me on the subway.

Is it
the same as the experience of a minority in America? No, not at all. I think
it’s probably better in some ways and worse in others. On the one hand, culture
shock combines with the fact that I look different to make me feel even more
like an outsider. On the other hand, I think it would be harder to feel like
you stood out if you were in your home country at the time.

So do I
understand what it’s like to be a racial minority? Not really. I know what it’s
like for me, but each person’s background and personality will make their
experience different. Do I understand it better than I did two years ago?
Absolutely. Am I more understanding and empathetic to those who have this kind
of experience? I hope so. At the very least, I now know that race does matter.
It matters because it’s part of how people experience the world and
consequently a part of who we are.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Taiwan is beautiful during the fall. The weather is neither too hot nor too cold. I am comfortable outside wearing short, long, or medium-length sleeves. It doesn't rain all the time like it does in the winter time. Even the humidity either disappears or just isn't obvious because the temperature isn't so extreme.

And yet New England is also beautiful in the fall. I miss the leaves that change into such a wide variety of colors. I miss walking through rows of apple trees and trying to find the perfect apples to put in my bag. I miss the smell of earthy smell of freshly fallen leaves. I miss the taste of a freshly picked apple and the thick sweetness of apple cider.

Monday, October 1, 2012

I
love hearing stories about the beginnings of relationships. I especially like stories about how people
met their spouses. Sometimes, they don't seem particularly special or romantic at the time. For example, a woman
who used to work at my current company met her husband at an ESL Bible study.
She was his teacher, and the first thing she ever said to him was, “You’re
late!”

Stories like this just show how little we know about the future. So often we meet people
who will have a huge effect on our lives, but we have no way of knowing it at
the time.

But
of course, relationships involving God are completely different. He knew
everything that would happen in the history of the human race, which makes the
first things He said to people especially interesting.

The
first thing in the Bible that God said to a human is a blessing: “Be fruitful
and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish
of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that
moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28). There’s a lot that could be said about this
verse, but I want to focus on the kind of relationship it suggests. When God
created people, He wanted them to experience an abundant, fruitful, successful
life, which would involve enjoying and taking care of everything in the world.

The
next thing he said was, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed
that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit.
You shall have them for food” (Genesis 1:29). Again, this is God blessing
people, giving them an abundance of delicious food and allowing them to enjoy
creation. Although the Bible does not mention this specifically, I’d like to
point out that this includes chocolate – truly proof that God had our best
interests at heart!

The
creation account in Genesis 2 focuses more specifically on God’s creation of
human beings, and the first recorded words in this account are very similar:
“You may surely eat of every tree in the garden …” (Genesis 2:16). Yes, God
goes on to give one exception to this sweeping statement, but the main point is
still that Adam has an abundance of food – food he didn’t work to grow, because
it was right there.

To
me, this is a reminder of how central grace is in God’s relationship with us.
We Christians tend to think of grace in terms of God’s forgiveness for sin. But
any gift that we do not deserve or earn is also grace. Here, God gives grace by
blessing people and showering them with gifts before the people have done
anything at all.

So
unlike the stories of human relationships, the story of God’s relationship with
humanity is the same from beginning to end. God has always related to people on
the basis of grace, giving generously long before people start serving Him. And
God’s grace will continue to be the source of all our blessings even into
eternity. In the words of John Newton, “’Tis grace that brought me safe thus
far, and grace will lead me home.”

About Me

I'm a Ph.D student at the University of Notre Dame studying Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity. I also have a BA from Brandeis University and an MTS from Notre Dame. After college, I lived in Taiwan and edited an English-teaching magazine. I love traveling and learning languages. I'm also fascinated with philosophy, which was one of my majors in college, and I write poetry, some of which I post on this blog. Most importantly, I am a sincere Christian. I believe that Jesus is God and trust Him to forgive my sins and enable me to live the life I was made to live.